Culture Watch

If you missed or couldn't attend the National Book Festival this weekend or hadn't watched it on C-Span2 (Booktv.org), there are sources for author's interviews, a kids and teacher's guide, and author's podcasts. "Gateway to Knowledge" is expected to visit up to 60 sites in states across the Midwest and South over the next year. more »

It's hard to believe after reading this detailed, sympathetic story that its subject seems to be hardly known today. She was famous and highly esteemed, especially in the United States, as a novelist before her success reached England. more »

Its author, Daisy Hay, has a recent doctorate in English Literature from Cambridge, and currently teaches at Oxford. This is her first book, and one may only hope that others will follow. Her scholarship is impeccable (copious notes, a fine bibliography, and a very thorough index), but it’s her careful interpretation of the dynamics of a group of youngsters who were striving to be heard and acknowledged, that excites a reader’s intellect and touches the heart. more »

Oh, and one more thing: a true beach read must be one that you can pass along, which is why ours are almost always paperbacks. When you’ve found a satisfying beach read, others will request your copy as soon as you’re through with it, probably because you’ve been recounting your delight at the dinner table (an obnoxious habit, that, but I’ve had some good reads out of it). If you’ve been emphatic enough with your praise, the book will travel from hand to hand, and probably wind up going home with someone else. more »